Gracie’s Guide to a Five: APUSH Edition
Period One: 1491-1607
Explain the context for European encounters in the Americas from 1491 to 1607.
Pre-contact Natives: Developed unique cultures based on their climate and geography
Central & South America…
● Aztec, Inca, Mayan
● Maize cultivation was relied on for trade and cultivation
● Intricate trading networks and irrigation systems
● Massive cities and organizations relied on tribute systems
North America
● Small, semi-nomadic tribes
● Plains
○ Buffalo, Teepees, more nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes
○ Sioux, Cheyenne
● Great Lakes
○ Agriculture, longhouses for large families
1492 - Columbian Exchange: exchange of plants, animals, people, and disease from the Old
World to the New World and vice versa.
● Europeans gained wealth and a population boom.
● Natives acquired horses but suffered from the disease smallpox that wiped out the
majority of Native populations… survivors became enslaved or killed by other means.
Spanish Colonization: GOLD, GOD, GLORY
Hernan Cortes brutally conquered the Aztecs (College Board’s favorite example)
Conquistadors established an encomienda system, which emphasized the enslavement of
Native peoples in agriculture and production, specifically to work sugar and tobacco fields.
● Natives could escape due to their familiarity with the environment, which led the Spanish
to use the already-rich chattel-slavery system.
○ Africans were immune to most European diseases and unfamiliar with the land.
○ The use of enslaved Africans bolstered the economy and trade relations with
African nobility/ slavers.
The Casta System also developed, accounting for a social hierarchy based on a person's racial
genealogy.
● Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain), Creoles (born in New Spain of Spanish
parents), Mestizos (Spanish + Natives), Mulattoes (Spanish + Africans), African
Americans, and then Native Americans
Valladolid Debates: addressed the harsh treatment of natives
● Bartolome de las Casas: supported Catholic conversion but did NOT support brutality or
encomienda
● Juan Gines de Sepulveda believed Natives were barbaric and had the right to enslave
them
, Gracie’s Guide to a Five: APUSH Edition
● This led to the end of encomienda but the beginning of asiento, which was the same with
Africans
Period Two: 1607 to 1754
Explain the context for the colonization of North America from 1607 to 1754.
French Colonization
● Small settlements such as Quebec and New Orleans settled on the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi River.
● Friendly with natives and initiated trade relationships for furs and other luxury items
● Intermarried to promote alliances
● Jesuit missionaries converted Natives to Catholicism
● Similar to the Dutch colonization of New Amsterdam, focused on trade
English Colonization
● Jamestown (1607): 1st permanent English colony in the New World
● Tobacco plantation, founded by the joint-stock company to secure profits for the British
crown
● Chesapeake Colonies Virginia and Maryland
○ Tobacco plantations
○ Used enslaved Africans and indentured servants
○ Founded as a refuge for Catholics (Maryland specifically)
● Southern Colonies North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
○ Cash crops: rice, indigo, and sugar
○ The highest concentration of enslaved Africans, which led to violent uprisings
■ Stono Rebellion (largest slave insurrection in colonial America)
■ Passage of strict slave codes that solidified chattel slavery, in which the
enslaved person is considered property rather than a person
● New England Colonies Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire
○ Puritans Founded Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629)
■ John Winthrop's “City Upon a Hill” sermon
○ Close-knit groups with economies based on shipping and trade due to nonarable
land
○ Banished dissenters Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson (challenged Puritan
doctrine) who founded Rhode Island
● Middle Colonies Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey
○ Most ethnically and economically diverse —> most tolerant!
○ Considered the “Breadbasket” of colonies due to the production of cereal crops
such as grain
○ Also partook in shipping and lumbering
○ Pennsylvania
■ Proprietary colony under William Penn, established for Wuakers
■ Friendly relationships with Natives
■ Generally opposed slavery
, Gracie’s Guide to a Five: APUSH Edition
Native conflicts due to competition for resources
● 1622: uprising in Virginia colony
● 1675: King Philip’s War in New England colonies (Chief Metacom of the Wampanogs is
aka “King Philip”)
● Loss of native life and land
Colonial Culture
● Geographic distance from England and the unique landscapes of America are also why
we see such diverse cultures in geographic regions today… think of the difference
between Alabama and Maine in terms of culture.
● Driven by self-government
○ Mayflower Compact
○ Virginia House of Burgesses
■ independent Virginia parliament
○ Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
■ defined the powers of colonial government and allowed more men to vote
than in Massachusett
○ SALUTARY NEGLECT
Colonial Economics
● Mercantilism: global competition for a “finite" wealth (terms of gold/ silver, i.e., the gold
standard)... gained wealth by exporting more than they imported
● The Crown passed a series of Navigation Acts to control colonial economics, but they
were loosely enforced.
First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)
● Baptist and Methodist revival in the colonies
● Jonathan Edwards: Congregationalist, ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God” sermon
● George Whitefield: emotional conversions, camp and town meetings
● This led to colonists questioning Britain’s authority
Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia Colony (1676)
● Nathaniel Bacon led a troop of poor farmers against Governor
Willaim Berkely due to a lack of protection from Native Americans.
● Contributed to the transfer from indentured servitude to slave
labor
George Whitefield:
What is bro looking at
Period One: 1491-1607
Explain the context for European encounters in the Americas from 1491 to 1607.
Pre-contact Natives: Developed unique cultures based on their climate and geography
Central & South America…
● Aztec, Inca, Mayan
● Maize cultivation was relied on for trade and cultivation
● Intricate trading networks and irrigation systems
● Massive cities and organizations relied on tribute systems
North America
● Small, semi-nomadic tribes
● Plains
○ Buffalo, Teepees, more nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes
○ Sioux, Cheyenne
● Great Lakes
○ Agriculture, longhouses for large families
1492 - Columbian Exchange: exchange of plants, animals, people, and disease from the Old
World to the New World and vice versa.
● Europeans gained wealth and a population boom.
● Natives acquired horses but suffered from the disease smallpox that wiped out the
majority of Native populations… survivors became enslaved or killed by other means.
Spanish Colonization: GOLD, GOD, GLORY
Hernan Cortes brutally conquered the Aztecs (College Board’s favorite example)
Conquistadors established an encomienda system, which emphasized the enslavement of
Native peoples in agriculture and production, specifically to work sugar and tobacco fields.
● Natives could escape due to their familiarity with the environment, which led the Spanish
to use the already-rich chattel-slavery system.
○ Africans were immune to most European diseases and unfamiliar with the land.
○ The use of enslaved Africans bolstered the economy and trade relations with
African nobility/ slavers.
The Casta System also developed, accounting for a social hierarchy based on a person's racial
genealogy.
● Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain), Creoles (born in New Spain of Spanish
parents), Mestizos (Spanish + Natives), Mulattoes (Spanish + Africans), African
Americans, and then Native Americans
Valladolid Debates: addressed the harsh treatment of natives
● Bartolome de las Casas: supported Catholic conversion but did NOT support brutality or
encomienda
● Juan Gines de Sepulveda believed Natives were barbaric and had the right to enslave
them
, Gracie’s Guide to a Five: APUSH Edition
● This led to the end of encomienda but the beginning of asiento, which was the same with
Africans
Period Two: 1607 to 1754
Explain the context for the colonization of North America from 1607 to 1754.
French Colonization
● Small settlements such as Quebec and New Orleans settled on the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi River.
● Friendly with natives and initiated trade relationships for furs and other luxury items
● Intermarried to promote alliances
● Jesuit missionaries converted Natives to Catholicism
● Similar to the Dutch colonization of New Amsterdam, focused on trade
English Colonization
● Jamestown (1607): 1st permanent English colony in the New World
● Tobacco plantation, founded by the joint-stock company to secure profits for the British
crown
● Chesapeake Colonies Virginia and Maryland
○ Tobacco plantations
○ Used enslaved Africans and indentured servants
○ Founded as a refuge for Catholics (Maryland specifically)
● Southern Colonies North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
○ Cash crops: rice, indigo, and sugar
○ The highest concentration of enslaved Africans, which led to violent uprisings
■ Stono Rebellion (largest slave insurrection in colonial America)
■ Passage of strict slave codes that solidified chattel slavery, in which the
enslaved person is considered property rather than a person
● New England Colonies Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire
○ Puritans Founded Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629)
■ John Winthrop's “City Upon a Hill” sermon
○ Close-knit groups with economies based on shipping and trade due to nonarable
land
○ Banished dissenters Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson (challenged Puritan
doctrine) who founded Rhode Island
● Middle Colonies Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey
○ Most ethnically and economically diverse —> most tolerant!
○ Considered the “Breadbasket” of colonies due to the production of cereal crops
such as grain
○ Also partook in shipping and lumbering
○ Pennsylvania
■ Proprietary colony under William Penn, established for Wuakers
■ Friendly relationships with Natives
■ Generally opposed slavery
, Gracie’s Guide to a Five: APUSH Edition
Native conflicts due to competition for resources
● 1622: uprising in Virginia colony
● 1675: King Philip’s War in New England colonies (Chief Metacom of the Wampanogs is
aka “King Philip”)
● Loss of native life and land
Colonial Culture
● Geographic distance from England and the unique landscapes of America are also why
we see such diverse cultures in geographic regions today… think of the difference
between Alabama and Maine in terms of culture.
● Driven by self-government
○ Mayflower Compact
○ Virginia House of Burgesses
■ independent Virginia parliament
○ Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
■ defined the powers of colonial government and allowed more men to vote
than in Massachusett
○ SALUTARY NEGLECT
Colonial Economics
● Mercantilism: global competition for a “finite" wealth (terms of gold/ silver, i.e., the gold
standard)... gained wealth by exporting more than they imported
● The Crown passed a series of Navigation Acts to control colonial economics, but they
were loosely enforced.
First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)
● Baptist and Methodist revival in the colonies
● Jonathan Edwards: Congregationalist, ‘Sinners in the hands of an angry God” sermon
● George Whitefield: emotional conversions, camp and town meetings
● This led to colonists questioning Britain’s authority
Bacon’s Rebellion, Virginia Colony (1676)
● Nathaniel Bacon led a troop of poor farmers against Governor
Willaim Berkely due to a lack of protection from Native Americans.
● Contributed to the transfer from indentured servitude to slave
labor
George Whitefield:
What is bro looking at
